WASHINGTON — In a vote against gay marriage, the Republican-controlled House on Thursday approved a bill designed to let state courts rather than federal courts decide whether states should recognize out-of-state marriages between people of the same sex.
The White House-backed measure was approved on a largely party-line vote of 233 to 194.
The bill faces an uncertain fate in the Senate, which last week scuttled a proposed constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage.
The bill, called the Marriage Protection Act, would strip federal judges of authority to hear challenges to a federal law that allows states to decide not to recognize same-sex marriages sanctioned by another state.
Supporters argued that the bill was needed to prevent activist judges from striking down a provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which says no state is required to recognize a same-sex marriage allowed by another state.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) said the bill would prevent "unelected, lifetime-appointed federal judges from taking away from the states their right to reject same-sex marriage licenses issued elsewhere if states so choose."
But Kevin Cathcart, executive director of Lambda Legal, a gay and lesbian legal group, said the House measure "clearly violates our Constitution and will never be allowed to stand."
The measure's passage was spurred by a lawsuit filed this week by two lesbians who were married in Massachusetts and sought to have their union recognized in Florida.
Democrats accused Republicans of pushing the bill to motivate social conservatives to turn out for President Bush in the fall election. The bill's opponents argued that it could lead to efforts to limit courts' powers to hear civil rights cases.
"While every other American will continue to enjoy the checks and balances that come from three branches of government, the Republicans have decided that if you are gay, you should be able to get along with just two branches of government," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.).
The bill's supporters said the measure was a response to gay marriages in San Francisco and other places after Massachusetts' highest court this year permitted same-sex marriages in that state.
"Not on my watch will I stand idly by while the courts in Massachusetts redefine marriage in Indiana," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.).
